Skaters, young and young at heart, have been enjoying the outdoor rink at Stuart Park since it opened earlier this month. With the growing popularity of the rink, the City of Kelowna has installed a camera that will feed to its website allowing residents and visitors to view rink conditions before heading downtown to skate.

“We want people to get active this winter and we know that it can be disappointing to come downtown only to find the rink closed or is too busy to skate,” says Director, Recreation and Cultural Services Jim Gabriel. “This can be especially frustrating for those who are just learning to skate or have young skaters.”

The camera, mounted above the maintenance building in the park, is high enough to provide a bird’s eye view of the area, allowing residents to see if the rink is closed for maintenance (roughly 15-20 minutes and will be indicated by signs at each corner of the rink), closed for the day (indicated by two yellow signs in the middle of the rink), or how many skaters are on the ice.

The City’s intent is to provide added customer service for residents and visitors. Providing camera views is not new. Locally, residents can view traffic going in and out of town over the W.R. Bennett Bridge and can look at highway conditions through provincial cameras.

Once the ice surface is removed in February or March, the camera will remain in place; however, the feed will be turned off and removed from the website.

For individuals looking to skate indoors, Rutland Arena, Capital News Centre and Memorial Area offer public skating times. Skate rentals are available for use at Rutland Arena and Capital News Centre.